Welcome to Birmingham, Florence Township, Erie County, and the Firelands of the Western Reserve.

The first white men in the area were probably French Traders who moved through our region but left no signs of their visits. The first settlements by the white man took place after the Revolutionary War. Most of the settlers of the early years came from New England.

The village of Birmingham lies at the eastern edge of an unusually named and historical tract of land. The Fire Lands of the Connecticut Western Reserve, sometimes called the Sufferers Lands.

During the American Revolution, British troops under Benedict Arnold destroyed by fire parts of the towns of New London, Norwalk, Groton, Greenwich, and others along Long Island Sound. To recompense the burned out citizens and their heirs, the Connecticut Legislature in 1792 set aside from the Connecticut Western Reserve in Ohio, a half million [500,000] acres of land. These lands were settled by the families or sold for the benefit of the families who lost property in the raids.

The land was deducted from the western end of the Western Reserve prior to the sale in 1795 of the remaining two and a half million acres to The Connecticut Land Company.

The Firelands are what is today Erie County, Huron County, Ruggles Township in Ashland County, and Danbury Township in Ottawa County.

Connecticut, like some others of the original 13 colonies, had received a land grant from the King of England with the western boundary extending to the Pacific Ocean. With the formation of the United States, the new states ceded their western claims to the new federal government.

The townships of the Western Reserve and the Firelands are five miles by five miles square, twenty five square miles in area. Ezra Sprague came to the southwestern section of our township in 1811. In 1816 Uriah Hawley settled south of Birmingham in what is now called Terryville. In 1817 Perez Starr came to Birmingham, settled on about 250 acres and built a saw and grist mill on the Vermillion River. The mill burned in 1906 and the site is a small park today.

A covered bridge was constructed across the Vermilion River in 1820. With this assistance to transportation the village grew through the 1800’s. Birmingham became the local trading center for the surrounding farm areas of Erie and Lorain Counties. Other local or area industrial activities included a carding mill, ice cutting on the river and sandstone quarrying.

As a small town center of that day, serving the local walking or horsedrawn vehicle communication radius, the village had its own blacksmiths, butchers, grocers, hardware, dry goods, hardware, clothing, photographers, physicians, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment.

As the 1800s drew to a close the new century began, the rapid growth of new communications and transportation systems radically changed the isolated country life and more slowly changed the small village from its central importance to the area. For example a north south railroad through Birmingham never came to pass but the interurban trolley did come through east to west. The large cities, and the county seats were more accessible with new paved roads, passable year round.

Local business declined as people found variety and prices they desired away from the area in which they lived. The automobile, personal transportation, arrived.

The perfection of and continuing improvements in agricultural machinery allowed the farmer to do more of his own work. The need for hired farm labor declined. The number of people living on the land declined. Many of the local businesses declined and disappeared.

Today our population makes most of its purchases in the surrounding shopping centers and malls. We have a community, village and township, with relatively few agricultural workers and many industrial and service workers who commute out of the area to work. The farming is done by a few with specialized machinery.

Technology has created our more comfortable homes, heated and cooled and with specialized machines for living. With television we see it live, half a world or the moon away. We are not the isolated rural and small village people of 1880.

Predictions of the future are some of the most unrealistic things men do. Clearly stated, they are usually wrong. If veiled in vagueness, they can be interpreted in any manner desired. At any rate here are a few predictions for our area in the future.

Improved methods of transportation and communication. The improvements of the past made radical changes in our area. Those of the future will add to life in our area. The automobile will continue to be our transportation system. It will have a new power system but will still be with us.

A slow and steady growth of both homes and small industry as more and more people and industries move out of the cities.

Water service to our area from the Vermilion service lines. This will bring added problems however, as increasing use of water may force a sewer system into existence. The greatest problem of either is how to pay for the system.

A continuing and increasing interest in the history of our area. The old ways, old crafts, old houses and buildings. A greater feeling for what our forefathers accomplished, how they lived.

Our township has three buildings on the National Resister of Historic Places. Two of these are homes in the village of Birmingham. The third is the old town hall in Florence three miles west of Birmingham. There are certainly additional buildings which deserve the recognition of such listing.

The Western Reserve Historical Society has suggested the creation of an Historical District in Birmingham. This would add to the interest in and value of our community. Such a district would add to the attractiveness of various church and community activities.

Our forefathers cared greatly about the future generations. We must continue their concern and make a better life and world possible for our children and grandchildren. At the same time we need to remind ourselves of the immense labors and sacrifices which enable us to enjoy our life today.

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Transcribed by Lowell Dunlap